Roman Mstislavich is a rather controversial figure, but rather not in itself, but because of some features of the information about him that has been preserved and the absence until recently of a comprehensive analysis with a cross-comparison of foreign and Russian sources. In the Kiev Chronicle, this ruler is described as a brawler and a squabbler, in the chronicles from the Vladimir-Suzdal principality - as clearly a secondary prince, the same brawler (all these are the conclusions of the Soviet historian Tolochko). In short, a mediocrity and insignificance, a fickle, inept politician and diplomat, incapable of any serious creative work and did not possess any significant political weight in Russia, if the chronicles are to be believed as the ultimate truth. He even died stupidly in an accidental battle. True, the chronicles in Russia were written under the auspices of one or another prince and therefore, first of all, they glorified him, belittling the role of competitors and enemies, but who cares? And what is the matter with the fact that the Kiev Chronicle was written under the auspices of the prince, who was in serious conflict with Roman Mstislavich, and in Vladimir-Suzdal, first of all (and deservedly so) they glorified such their own rulers as Vsevolod the Big Nest?
However, already in the 18th century, the attitude towards Roman Mstislavich was revised. True, this revision was connected with the activities of Tatishchev, a widely known in narrow circles, who devoted his life to the search for a "truthful" history of Russia, and not politicized collections written in the interests of individual rulers. Some believe that he simply engaged in falsifications, while others argue that he probably had access to a number of sources that have not reached our time, and may, at least in some cases, be right. It was Tatishchev who first presented Roman as the Grand Duke not by title, but by the mindset, a skillful politician and commander, a reformer who sought to end strife in Russia and strengthen its statehood. However, officially Tatishchev and his works were declared a lie, and therefore in the future the figure of Roman Mstislavich again acquired the character of complete mediocrity (in the eyes of Russian historians).
And then came the magical XXI century, when suddenly many new sources, including foreign ones, appeared, new methods of work and ambitious historians like A. V. articles), who became interested in the issue, began their search - and found many new references about Roman Mstislavich and his activities. When these sources were cross-compared with the old ones, a picture completely distinguishable from the past views began to emerge, much closer to the description of Tatishchev than to the traditional chronicle (which makes one generally think about how much of a storyteller Tatishchev was, and whether he was at all). Moreover, some of the fabulous assumptions about the Roman, put forward by the historian of the 18th century, unexpectedly played with new colors and received, albeit indirect, but still confirmed, and the old theories about the mediocre ruler suddenly began to resemble the journalistic "crap" so familiar to us nowadays, only authorship chroniclers … It is from this, the most modern and now recognized point of view, and will be told about the life of the founder of the Galicia-Volyn principality.
Roman Mstislavich
Roman was born in about 1150 in the family of Prince Mstislav Izyaslavich (which has already been described in previous articles) and the Polish princess Agnieszka, daughter of Boleslav III Crooked-mouth. While his father was actively involved in strife and fought for Kiev, Roman was brought up in Poland - however, it is not clear which of his relatives on the mother's side. In the future, his ties with the Poles will remain quite close, and by the will of fate, it is they who will play a fatal role in his life …
For the first time, Roman established himself as a ruler in Novgorod, being invited there by the inhabitants of the city. There he remained a prince of nothing at all - from 1168 to 1170, but this period was associated with many events caused by the strife going on in Russia, where the main opponent of the coalition of princes, which included Roman, was Andrei Bogolyubsky. Military operations included raids on the Polotsk land, at that time allied with the Vladimir-Suzdal principality, repelling retaliatory raids and preparing for big battles. It ended with an ever-increasing offensive by Bogolyubsky on Novgorod. It is not known what role the young prince himself played in these and subsequent events and battles (perhaps most of the work was done by the active Novgorodians themselves, and the prince simply did not interfere with them, or he led the entire preparation for the defense), but this campaign ended with a great defeat for Andrei and his allies. There were so many prisoners that the Novgorodians sold them for a pittance, only 2 feet each. However, the city could no longer fight further due to the growing hunger, therefore peace was concluded with Bogolyubsky, and Roman was asked to leave according to the terms of the peace.
In the same year, his father, Mstislav Izyaslavich, died, and our hero suddenly inherited the Volyn principality. And then the stars stood in a row. Roman himself was an active, pragmatic and young man; he had already managed to show himself during his short reign in Novgorod. The Volyn community was ready to make certain concessions and support the figure of the new prince as "their" ruler in exchange for defending its interests. As far as can be judged centuries later, Roman agreed.
True, upon arrival in the Volyn principality, a small "surprise" awaited him - active relatives managed to take away the lion's share of his possessions for their own inheritance. Firstly, Prince Yaroslav Izyaslavich separated from Lutsk and the eastern lands from the territory of Volyn and did not share power with his nephew. The seized piece was so large that it was he, and not the Vladimir prince, who was now considered the lord of Volyn. Secondly, Prince Svyatoslav, the illegitimate son of Father Roman, who had previously been a prince in Berestye and Cherven, decided to go on a free voyage, and to protect his own interests he swore allegiance to the Mazovian prince Boleslav IV Kudryavi; it is possible that the Pole, in addition to patronage, also took the city of Drohochin (also Drogichin, Dorogochin) from the Beresteys, which was lost by the Russians around this time and passed into the hands of the Poles. Thirdly, another brother of Roman, Vsevolod, occupied the city of Belz and also sent the "central" power in Volodymyr-Volynsky to hell. The situation was awful - the freshly baked Volyn prince had only the capital city and its surroundings under direct control!
And yet he got down to business. Acting with diplomacy, the available squad and the strength of the Volyn boyars with the Vladimir city regiment, he gradually began to return the unity of the principality that had disintegrated into fiefdoms. Brother Vsevolod was gradually subordinated to his will; Svyatoslav was expelled from Berestye, and the townspeople who supported him faced a cruel punishment. The Poles later try to return Cherven and Berestye to Svyatoslav, but fail, and the prince himself will die soon after. Roman's uncle, Yaroslav Izyaslavich, died in 1173, and his children did not have time to seize power - the Vladimir prince was already right there. Soon the Volyn principality was restored, and Roman received considerable forces and resources at his disposal and could henceforth plan a "big policy" in Russia and beyond, and most importantly - develop his possessions as a patrimony, which was to be inherited by his children. At the same time, the local community, together with the boyars, fully supported the prince, and the freedom-loving relatives abruptly abandoned their ambitions - it is possible that under pressure from both the prince and the communities of their own cities. The long-awaited peace reigned, there were practically no prolonged wars, and therefore the development of the economy, which greatly depended on peace, accelerated significantly. By the mid-1180s, Roman Mstislavich already had a very rich principality with a large army, a loyal population and loyal boyars at his disposal.
And most importantly, Roman's ambitions and the great opportunities of his current possession pushed him to expand and seize the nearest territories, the most valuable of which was the Galician principality. Probably, the Volyn communities also had certain views on Galich, who did not forget that the Subcarpathia was once subject to them, and its current wealth looked at least tempting. In the case of the unification of these two lands of South-Western Russia, a strong state entity could appear on the map of the region, capable of conducting an independent policy and claiming dominance among other principalities of Rurikovich, not to mention protecting its own interests from other external forces. The creation of the Galicia-Volyn principality was just around the corner …
Galicia-Volyn principality
The first attempt to take control of the Galician principality has already been described earlier, in the relevant topic. It is worth adding only that this attempt turned out to be big problems for Roman and almost made him quarrel with the community in Volodymyr-Volynskiy. The reason was that for the sake of Galich, Roman easily gave up his current possession, transferring it to his brother Vsevolod. It looked like a betrayal to the community. But, as you know, the idea with Galich failed, and Roman had to return back to the capital city of Vladimir … who refused to accept him, announcing that now their prince is Vsevolod, at the behest of Roman Mstislavich himself. I had to involve the forces of my father-in-law, Rurik Rostislavich Ovruchsky, to regain control of the city. However, a lesson was learned from this event - no special repressions against the Vladimir boyars, who refused to accept Roman, followed, and the prince's agreement with the community was restored. In the future, Roman was wary of such harsh decisions regarding his main internal ally in Volyn.
A lesson was also learned from the failure at Galich. Realizing that it would not be possible to take possession of Galich directly, Roman led a much more cautious and long-term policy. Contacts were established with Vladimir Yaroslavich. He was just "thrown" with Galich by the Magyars, at the same time taking the applicant for the principality into custody, and he was not at all opposed to getting someone's support. In the future, agreements with Roman, among other things, will provide for Vladimir the marriage of his son from the priest, Vasilka, with the daughter of Prince Volyn. In addition, it is possible that it was with the assistance of the prince from Volyn that Vladimir escaped from custody to Germany, where he received support from the Staufens (Roman's relatives!) For the return of his principality. As a result, Galich returned to the hands of a stupid prince, the last representative of the first Galician dynasty, and Roman unexpectedly established his influence in this principality.
This was followed by a decade of calm. The novel, of course, did not waste time: he joined the struggle for Kiev, began to look for new allies for himself, managed to take part in Polish strife, repelled several raids of the Yatvingians and made retaliatory campaigns. Power in Volhynia has strengthened over time. Finally, when Prince Vladimir Yaroslavich died in 1199 and the Rostislavich Galitsky dynasty was finally suppressed, Roman immediately gathered his army, summoned the allied Poles and quickly appeared under the walls of Galich. Apparently, he managed to enlist the support of a part of the boyars and the Galician community, from which the large boyars had already finally separated, and he brought with him an ally, the Polish prince Leszek Bely, so he got the city without any problems, and with him the Galician principality. At the same time, Roman did not abandon his past inheritance, and therefore what many had expected for a long time happened - Volyn and Galich united into a single Galicia-Volyn principality.
Galich became the formal capital of the principality. The Vladimir community reacted to this with understanding: the Galician boyars represented a great danger and demanded constant control over them. At the same time, the prince was in no hurry to give up the table in Vladimir-Volynsky and did not even begin to appoint the prince-governor, keeping it under his direct control. The novel launched real repressions against the Galician boyars, trying to suppress their freedom: those, taking advantage of Vladimir's weakness, by 1199 seized all sources of income in their hands and still tried to invite the descendants of Yaroslav Osmomysl on the female line, the Igorevich princes, to reign. Two of the most active boyars, the Kormilichich brothers, were expelled from the city and went to Hungary. Trades, customs and other places of "feeding" of the boyars were "nationalized", returning to the hands of the prince, and all the dissatisfied faced new privations, stocks or death. It is indicative that the Galician community itself did not show much discontent with the reprisals - the boyars in her eyes no longer looked like the “first among equals” who they were before the process of dividing the masses and the aristocracy was finally completed. All this allowed the unified Galicia-Volyn state to exist without any special excesses until the death of Roman Mstislavich.
My father-in-law, my enemy
In 1170, becoming the prince of Volyn, Roman married Predslava Rurikovna, daughter of the Ovruch prince Rurik Rostislavich. In the future, Roman was little interested in the conflicts that took place around Kiev, while Rurik was actively involved in them and claimed the title of Grand Duke, either concluding alliances or declaring war. When the time came to help each other, the princes were in no hurry to help each other, but they did not become an obstacle either. So, Roman provided some help to Rurik during the struggle with Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich in 1180-1181, and Rurik, in response, helped his son-in-law return Vladimir-Volynsky after the failure of the Galician adventure in 1188. In general, their relationship remained good, but not the closest: each had their own spheres of interests, goals and battles.
In 1194, Rurik became the Grand Duke of Kiev and gave Roman five cities in Porosie as a reward for his support. The emerging connection between Kiev and Volyn did not like the leading figure in Russia at that time, Vsevolod the Big Nest, Prince Vladimir-Suzdal. In 1195, he skillfully managed to drive a wedge between the allies and relatives, forcing Rurik to transfer the cities of Poros to him, in return returning two of them as compensation to the son of the Kiev prince. Added to this were the growing contradictions between Rurik and Roman themselves, as well as the fact that Predslava Rurikovna could not provide Roman with male offspring, having given birth to only two daughters. The former alliance came to an end when both princes clearly went to confrontation. In the same year, Roman sent Predslava to his father, having achieved a divorce from her. In search of new allies, Roman had to intervene in the Polish strife, supporting his closest Piast relatives in exchange for a promise of future support.
Due to the conflict with Rurik, Roman was drawn into squabbles for Kiev, in which he did not particularly want to participate before. After a short reconciliation in 1196, hostilities resumed. Roman acted as an ally of the contender for Kiev, Yaroslav Vsevolodovich, and Rurik organized campaigns against Volhynia for three princes at once, including Vladimir Yaroslavich Galitsky. Thanks to the support of the communities, the Volyn prince managed to repel enemy invasions, and the retaliatory strike on the Kiev land turned out to be very painful. However, if Roman himself performed well enough, then his ally was defeated and was forced to abandon his claims to Kiev.
When Roman united Galich and Volhynia under his command, Rurik perceived this as a threat and began to prepare a large campaign against his former son-in-law. The Galicia-Volyn prince played ahead of the curve and was the first to strike at Kiev. Rurik was forced to flee, and Roman put his cousin Ingvar in the city, who turned out to be a compromise figure between the Volyn prince and Vsevolod the Big Nest. Rurik returned to Kiev in 1203, having entered into an alliance with the Olgovichi and Polovtsy, while the latter plundered the city, which caused great anger from the city community. In response, Roman made a new campaign against his former father-in-law, laying siege to him in Ovruch at the beginning of 1204. Rurik was forced to make concessions and returned to Kiev only at the cost of abandoning the alliance with the Olgovichi.
It seemed that this was followed by the reconciliation of the two princes, and they, together with other rulers of Russia, went into a big raid against the Polovtsians, but Roman was only playing for time and getting ready. Rurik's somersaults angered not only the Volyn prince himself, but also the Kiev community; Rurik already interfered with Vsevolod the Big Nest, and a number of other Russian princes. As a result, upon his return from the campaign over Rurik in Kiev (his own city!), A large trial was held with the participation of church hierarchs who supported the position of Roman (who was absent from the trial at all). By the verdict of this court, Rurik, his wife Anna, and also daughter Predslav were forcibly tonsured into monks. The reason for this was the violation of the church canon, which has been widespread in Greece since the 8th century, but has not always been implemented in Russia, - the prohibition on closely related marriages up to the 6th degree inclusive, i.e. marriages between second cousins. Here a "combo" happened - not only Rurik and his wife Anna, but also Roman and Predslava were second cousins, as a result of which, from the point of view of church laws, only the mother-in-law and father-in-law of the Galician-Volyn prince were guilty of the double violation. It was this that allowed him to easily divorce Predslava in 1195-1196, and that is why the Kiev hierarchs, who were dissatisfied with the recent plundering of the city by Rurik, carried out a trial and forcibly tonsured all the trinity into monks. The novel, however, came out dry from the water - with a new wife, sending his main enemy to the monastery and even being known as a pious man and an ardent guardian of church canons.
The two sons of Rurik and Anna were taken by Roman as hostages, but by agreement with Vsevolod the Big Nest, one of them, Rostislav, was soon imprisoned by the Grand Duke in Kiev. Roman himself was not interested in Kiev as such - in his hands was a strong Galicia-Volyn principality, which made it possible to conduct a completely independent policy in Russia and beyond its borders, as well as communicate on equal terms (or almost on equal terms) with the most powerful prince of that time, Vsevolod Vladimir-Suzdalsky. The position of the prince became more and more weighty …
